Textbooks?

[rkeenan]

Is there any apps that are decent choices for textbooks for college/university courses? I am contemplating on whether to purchase an iPad mini or Nexus 7 for textbooks. Which one do you think would be better? I am tired of lugging around my school books everywhere and ordering them online. I feel like I get violated every semester when it comes to buying books. Any productive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[svfd757]

FBReader has served me well thus far. It supports epub files which is what we use a lot of. Pretty sure it was free too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[rkeenan]

FBReader has served me well thus far. It supports epub files which is what we use a lot of. Pretty sure it was free too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Where do you get your epub textbooks at?

 

[svfd757]

Where do you get your epub textbooks at?

I think it depends on the professor but for the most part that's what we've been offered.

 

[bigtroutz]

Is there any apps that are decent choices for textbooks for college/university courses? I am contemplating on whether to purchase an iPad mini or Nexus 7 for textbooks. Which one do you think would be better? I am tired of lugging around my school books everywhere and ordering them online. I feel like I get violated every semester when it comes to buying books. Any productive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

You are pretty much at the mercy of what formats will be allowed/provided by your professors. I know that the N7 will let you read ANY electronic format out there and I expect that would also be the case for any Apple device as well. In any case, this capacity is not a good decider on which device to buy since they are essentially equivalent in eReader capability.

That's just the way it is - the professors do what they like.

edit:
this post goes into detail about which eReader apps are available

http://forums.androidcentral.com/go...oogle-nexus-7-tips-tricks-13.html#post2380493

 

[whymista]

For me almost all the ebooks were either epub or pdf. All which can be read by the kindle app for free.

Either way you'll at least be able to view them online via a web browser or at least they were available like that to me at UTA.

I personally hate ebooks I don't see how people use them as their sole source. Although I could see it being nice to be able to study for another class without being obvious by having another book out.

 

[rkeenan]

Our professors allow us to use whatever type of book we want. They just want us to do the homework and study for tests/quizzes. They only thing where it is mandated for hard copy books is for some science classes.

 

[whymista]

Our professors allow us to use whatever type of book we want. They just want us to do the homework and study for tests/quizzes. They only thing where it is mandated for hard copy books is for some science classes.

I was a philosophy major before so there weren't any books offered in an ebook fashion and frankly as many notes as you needed to take it wouldn't have been very feasible. Now that I'm a psych major I hate how much they are in love with powerpoints and other technology. Write on the damn board lol I am used to only using my notes to study now I'm seriously considering going back and continuing to minor in psyc

 

[Lactose The Intolerant]

I just received my MBA and I think I purchased 3 hard copy texts... the rest where "rented" electronically at Rent online textbooks, eTextbooks, eResources. Save up to 60%. | CourseSmart -- you might want to check them out. For 1/2 the price of hard copy, you have access to each electronic text for 6 months. Using a certain browser (I forget which one - firefox?) you can access the textbook offline... otherwise, fire up your browser of choice at Starbucks, the airport, wherever and get your textbook!

Is there any apps that are decent choices for textbooks for college/university courses? I am contemplating on whether to purchase an iPad mini or Nexus 7 for textbooks. Which one do you think would be better? I am tired of lugging around my school books everywhere and ordering them online. I feel like I get violated every semester when it comes to buying books. Any productive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[whymista]

That works for throw away classes but if you have any plans on going to grad school renting textbooks is stupid. You will end up needing textbooks from your undergrad time in grad school. Two of my friends who finished their PhDs made sure I kept all the books from my philosophy and psych classes because they come in handy when you're researching etc

 

[rkeenan]

I just received my MBA and I think I purchased 3 hard copy texts... the rest where "rented" electronically at Rent online textbooks, eTextbooks, eResources. Save up to 60%. | CourseSmart -- you might want to check them out. For 1/2 the price of hard copy, you have access to each electronic text for 6 months. Using a certain browser (I forget which one - firefox?) you can access the textbook offline... otherwise, fire up your browser of choice at Starbucks, the airport, wherever and get your textbook!

Thank you. I am getting my undergrad in Finance and a MBA after that. I don't really see the point of keeping these text books when all of terms and equations can be found on websites like wikinvest.

 

[whymista]

Thank you. I am getting my undergrad in Finance and a MBA after that. I don't really see the point of keeping these text books when all of terms and equations can be found on websites like wikinvest.

Well yea for a degree like that it wouldn't be but for masters and or PhD programs which are research intense you will not only need older text you're going to need to be able to lay out several books at a time so that you can use multiple sources simultaneously.

 

[rkeenan]

Well yea for a degree like that it wouldn't be but for masters and or PhD programs which are research intense you will not only need older text you're going to need to be able to lay out several books at a time so that you can use multiple sources simultaneously.

You can find sources from things other than textbooks....

 

[rkeenan]

Plus I am going with Lactose the Intolerant since he did just finish his MBA (masters in business administration) and had to only use 3 different textbooks. The MBA is the graduate program I will be in.

 

[whymista]

You can find sources from things other than textbooks....

Not if you plan on citing it you can't. You're going to be using books, whether its an ebook or physical. You can't cite some random ass website in a case study or research paper or a critique.

 

[rkeenan]

So you can't get by with 3 physical books like he said? Do you think a MBA and a Masters program differ in any way? I know there are several reference books that I can use at my university's library for citing material.

 

[mathelm]

Not if you plan on citing it you can't. You're going to be using books, whether its an ebook or physical. You can't cite some random ass website in a case study or research paper or a critique.

Not even in France?

 

[whymista]

So you can't get by with 3 physical books like he said? Do you think a MBA and a Masters program differ in any way? I know there are several reference books that I can use at my university's library for citing material.

I never said you couldn't get by with three books I said simply having ebooks is inefficient unless you've got several monitors to simultaneously look at multiple sources. That and I for some reason thought MBA=macbook air.......that was my bad lol.

I'm saying physical books will always be better for research and writing papers. For simple in class stuff and homework if you have it sure but when you're trying to write a thesis an ebook isn't going to be nearly as efficient as having the myriad of books you're using spread out over a table open to specific pages, chapters and what have you.

 

[rkeenan]

So I will be buying a couple of reference books for my MBA if the books in my public or university library are not enough for citing material but renting an ebook is way more cost effective for an ebook than renting a physical book. It would have saved me over $500 this semester.

 

[rkeenan]

Haha and I would never have anything to do with Macbook Air lol